One caveat: Booking a car rental in Italy is trickier than elsewhere. For one thing, you must take the Collision Damage Waiver (can't use the Gold credit card collision coverage), which leads you to believe you're safely and fully covered for any damages to the car. However, there's generally another charge called "the Excess", which is like a deductible....which can be up to $3,000. The rental companies put a hold of this amount on your credit card until you return the car, and if there's damage, you have to pay this amount even though you purchased CDW. You can pay more money for the rental and get $0 excess coverage, which usually means you do have to pay the excess but then the rental company will reimburse you. With AutoEurope, I was able to negotiate a rate with zero excess, by showing them a similar rate from another less-well known local company that I had no intention of booking with. The main thing is, you really have to read the fine print that we usually skip over when making your booking, and take the time to investigate the various rental options.

Thanks for taking the time to write about your adventures. We are planning 6 weeks Sardinia / Sicily in Aug /Sept this year. We love Sicily but have not yet been to Sardinia. Where did you fly to from Cagliari (and which airline)? We intend to have 3 weeks driving around Sardinia and your observations are very useful. Thanks for taking the trouble to share

Hi natandmiriam,
We flew to Palermo from Cagliari on Meridiana. It was the only direct flight. I would've preferred flying into Catania, but then you need to transfer thru Rome. Meridiana was also much cheaper than Alitalia....but they do have a more restrictive luggage policy. We had no trouble with the flight. Enjoy your time in Sardinia!

natandmiriam....one more thought...have you been to Corsica? It's really easier to combine Corsica and Sardinia, than Sardinia and Sicily. We liked Corsica a lot better than Sicily.

Thank you so much for writing a such a vivid account of your experience. Susan

And thank you, Susan, for the acknowledgment!

"Our best day on Sardinia (and one of the best of our entire trip) was our day trip along the Gulfo Orosei coastline, which is only accessible by boat."
Most of the bays mentioned can in fact quite easily be walked to, though I guess the boat operators don't always tell you this.
Cala Goloritzè is an easy walk, suitable for kids aged 8-10 upwards, see http://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/sa...affil=bbctrv-e
Cala Luna is 2 hour moderate walk from Cala Fuili, a week or so ago I walked there while wife Anne and friends kayaked from Cala Gonone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9hK4PZqPwk
The nicest way to see the coast is IMHO get a boat eg to Cala Sisine then walk back to Cala Luna and Cala Fuili. These walks is described in the Cicerone walking guide http://www.cicerone.co.uk/product/de...ng-in-sardinia and the Rother guide http://www.rother.de/titpage/4800.php

ciao Peter

Thanks for clarifying, Peter.

No worries. It's a big place, and hard to get info about all of it. Though gradually word is getting out that Sardinia is great for walking as well as the sea. The latest Lonely Planet Italy and Sardinia guides say this. ciao Peter

Do you have any photos from this trip? Would love to see!!!

Hi again hpluss1....If you scroll up to my entry on Jan. 11, you can see the Sardinian photos on the link given. There's a lot to look at!

Hi barefootbeach! I absolutely love your trip report! very vivid account of your adventures - enjoyed reading it :)

I'm going to Sardinia in June and just have a question about car rental T&C and your comment below:

"With AutoEurope, I was able to negotiate a rate with zero excess, by showing them a similar rate from another less-well known local company that I had no intention of booking with."

I'm assuming you booked the car online, how were you able to negotiate the rate with zero excess? did you send them an email before you proceeded with the booking online? or did you negotiate the 0 excess with the local rental company where you picked up the car in Sardinia? and are you able to tell me the less well known car company you showed a similar rate to?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks kog,
I can't remember the name of the other company, but i found them by googling car rentals in Sardinia or Italy. Then, I got the quote from AutoEurope online...and wrote back to them online forwarding a copy of the lower quote which didn't have the excess charge. They met and even beat the price...despite cautioning me that it's like comparing apples to oranges because they have toll free numbers, offices, etc. I did talk to the home office a few times but I think that was due to changes I made. BTW, the home office is in the States...New Hampshire or Maine, I think, despite it appearing that you're calling a European number. I didn't negotiate anything with local car companies...and there was never a hassle when we picked this up. I don't think I took the even lower prepaid rate. Hope this helps!

Thank you Barefootbeach!

I booked everything else for the trip except the car rental! I don't know what's wrong with me but I cant seem to find a local car rental company in Sardinia that offers zero excess :( maybe because I'm looking to hire an automatic car? also, when you hired the car did you had to leave a deposit? or do you mean the excess was the deposit? and since you got zero excess you didnt have to pay for the deposit? Sorry, I'm still all confused about renting a car as I have not done this before!

Hi kcg,
Try "carrentalitaly"com for a quote without excess....I think that's the one I checked. Then, I used their price when I contacted AutoEurope to beat it. AutoEurope does offer a prepay option, which is cheaper, but I didn't want to do that. Their standard rate does not require a deposit, with or without an excess. They offer a rate with an excess, which means that they take your credit card and on rental, they authorize a charge which could be about $3000 in case you have any damage. They don't actually you charge you at that time until you return the car. There's also a rate without excess, which is considerably higher. It's very confusing and I spent a lot of time looking into this, but time has past and my memory is cloudy. I believe I found some good reports about this on TripAdvisor also. Hope this helps!